A Stitch in Haste

(Why aren't you reading this at the new site?)

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ITEM: The Associated Press reports that it has reached an agreement with a blogger whom it had accused of copyright infringement for blockquoting its pieces. Previous post here. Meanwhile, several bloggers (e.g., here and here) have turned a critical eye to the self-appointed role of the heretofore near-universally ignored "Media Bloggers Association," which I first lambasted long ago here.

ITEM: The United States Judicial Conference has unanimously voted to petition the House of Representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against a federal district judge, G. Thomas Porteous of Louisiana, on numerous charges of perjury and other judicial misconduct. Only 13 federal judges have ever been impeached; only seven have been removed from office. I have blogged previously about the higher standards of ethics and the more stringent self-policing in the federal judiciary relative to Congress.

ITEM: A judge has greatly reduced the honorary trust established in Leona Helmsley's will for the care of her dog from $12 million to $2 million. I foresaw such a reduction in this post.

ITEM: Los Angeles has introduced random bag searches on its commuter rail lines. The program, like the one implemented in the New York City subways — is worthless as a terror deterrence since the searches are pre-announced and give riders the option to simply walk away (i.e., to board the train at another station or at another time). I argued, for example here, that a program that can be objectively demonstrated to be worthless fails rational basis review and is therefore per se unreasonable (and, therefore, in violation of the Fourth Amendment). (Via Wil Wheaton.)

ITEM: A forthcoming report by Canadian law enforcement authorities is expected to call for greater restrictions on Taser use by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Taser use, and abuse, is a particularly sensitive topic in Canada in the wake of an October 2007 video showing Mounties tasering, at least twice, a Polish immigrant in Vancouver International Airport. The man, who spoke no English and had been waiting, apparently disoriented, in a secure area of the airport for 10 hours, later died. The report follows Taser International's first loss in a wrongful death lawsuit in the U.S., as I noted in last week's Sunday Updates; see also these previous posts.

ITEM: The Anglican Church faces yet another "gay rights" schism between its North American congregations (i.e., the U.S Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada) on the one hand and the far more conservative African congregations on the other. The latter are threatening to boycott the Anglican Communion's decennial "Lambeth Conference" scheduled for this summer and hold a rival meeting to protest the ordination of gay Episcopalian Bishop Gene V. Robinson and the sanctioning of his recent civil union ceremony in New Hampshire. Previous post (with related links) here.